wm cheng

OMG @MechTech that US Navy.mil photo site is AMAZING!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I could loose myself there for hours. What a great resource. To all the people building the Bandai VF-25 transformable model - you have brought back PTSD for me Best of luck, less painful to watch others go through it but it makes me relive my bad memories. I congratulate you @joscasle for attempting to paint all the markings, that's the way it should be done and your patience will pay off big time in the end! I just wanted to jump ahead and not get hung up on the ordinance issues so I went back the the main bird. This is the last time I get to see it clean from the factory. BTW, I love this Mr. Super Smooth Clear Matt rattle can - I used to mix Tamiya flat into Future to provide a clear matt spray, but it took a bit to get the mixture right and I found matt to dry/gum up the airbrush a lot during spray. So the lazy me took to the clear matt rattle can and its amazing! No clean up and super smooth and highly recommended. It leaves a matt that will take weathering, but still has a slight sheen to it which is perfect. I started the weathering with some graphite powder (mechanical pencil shavings), smudge stick (blending stump) and kneadable eraser and started to work on half the plane trying to follow the photo references as much as possible. All the photos show they kept this particular plane fairly clean with the exception of the walkway near the canopy. This is my first past. I'll maybe tone it down and blend it in a bit more, the nice thing is you can just erase it if its too heavy or add if its too light. I kept the underside very lightly done as they were much cleaner than the top Its hard to get the real handprints with the paint over at this scale (I need a really sharp eraser to get those cleaned off patches)

Do you think I can get away with using these wingtip launchers as the Sparrow/AMRAAM rails for the pylons (unused kit parts)? It looks pretty close to me! Here's the pylon at station 10 & 2 with the kit supplied HARM rails (stupid me I just followed instructions!). If I can, and if I can remove the HARM rails without damaging the pylons, how far forward or back do I mount them and where do I mount the AMRAAM on them (do the back rail sit flush with the back of the missile?). BTW - thanks @David Hingtgen for bringing this up now, I'd hate myself if I finished it all and someone then pointed out this mistake afterwards.

Wow! Thanks for all the great info on the weapons loadout. I was going to leave 9 & 3 empty, just the pylon (I've seen the dual AMRAAM loadout but thought that was just a bit overkill - plus I don't have that many AMRAAM in the model kit). You're right, the kit supplied rail that goes on the pylon are the HARM rail you described and its indicated that its paired up with the AMRAMM - so this is a mistake on the kit loadout? Damn, I've already clued and painted these parts together. I certainly don't have a HARM missile in the kit, I will see if I have two in my Hasegawa missile kit. I do like the look of the AMRAAM on the outside 10 & 2 stations in the grey with the white tips, but I don't think I have the sparrow rails to go with them - damn it! I'm not a fan of the bomb (laser guided or not) ordinance on any fighter. I'm basically going for this configuration, except I don't have the sparrow launchers and only have the HARM rails (this is the 1/48 kit not my 1/72 kit which doesn't have the the sparrows rails, although I have an extra wingtip (station 11 & 1) rails that were never used in the kit as they indicated I used longer tips - those kind of look like the sparrow rails?

Thanks for piping up @David Hingtgen I've been having a lot of trouble deciding this too. I have really great references (especially of the actual aircraft) but most of them are un-armed, it was really rare to find anything other than just the wingtip (station 11 & 1) AIM-9X or dummies. I was going to go with; station 11 & 1 with AIM-9X, stn 10 & 2 AMRAAM, stn 9 & 3 just the empty rack, stn 8, 6 & 4 wing tanks. I'm a missile guy, I like the way they look. How's this layout? It will be the last thing I do after all the painting.

Can't wait to see yours @Lolicon (LOL, I wished I did it in just an afternoon!) Amazing colour scheme @enphily!!! Congrats on it turning out so well.

Gorgeous!!! (and perfect)

NICE!!! Love that jig for the Dremel. Where did you get that? Was it expensive? The louvers, were they also done on a jig with a dremel?

Wow!!! Beautiful @Dobber. Is that camo pattern masked or decal?

WOW! Beautiful @electric indigo Simply gorgeous, these resin kits have such sharp detailing. Thanks for posting, love seeing these kits built up.

VERY NICE @derex3592! I was just thinking the same thing as @Chronocidal and was expecting all the little panels inside the main fields printed on the decals too. I guess I don't understand the size, could you put a ruler or something in scale next? Well the yellow tips to the tailfins were a nightmare! Just discovered that you don't leave Mr. Softer on the decal in a droplet or pool, it will completely dissolve the decal in that spot, its much more strong than Micro SOL. So in order of strength, I've discovered: Micro SET, Mr. Setter, Micro SOL, Mr. Softer (from weakest to strongest). The yellow tips kind of melted around the tailfin flarings. I thought it was a disaster. I spent the last few days trying to repair it, I finally mixed up a batch of yellow & orange Tamiya paint and "handpainted" to repair the melted decals, pretty much the only decals showing is the thin black and yellow stripes in the lower section of the tip. after a few coats of future to even out the finishes, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out - only a few days (8-9hrs later - argh!). I also keep dropping one of the wing tanks on my basement dusty floor (4 times) while it was either wet with paint or clear coat (the same one!) and had to sand it off and repaint - now after 4 times, its finally decent. Either I'm just clumsy in my old age and just not in the groove somethings, but I spent a lot of this model fixing and repairing instead of building and painting. Well its almost ready for a matte clear coat so I can do some light post shading/weathering. Oh BTW, thanks for that tip about painting my decal sheet and cutting that for the interior canopy frame. I also did a grey patch and did that for the forward LERX wing part with the grey no-slip walk on patch instead of use the kit supplied decals which was a screened print instead of a solid grey.

Beautiful @Saburo! I almost forgot what it looked like in any other mode other than the aircraft which is what I have mine displayed in. I do like the Gerwalk mode very much in this design.

@slide Oh wow, I actually thought it was worth something (I got the 1st round) but its nothing at all now, even those tiny 1/144 toys are more expensive. Thank God I don't collect to make money or I would've lost my shirt already.

YES!!! Beautiful design. I have the Platz 1/72 resin of the other two (Mave & Yukikaze) - I didn't know they made one of this also. Beautiful kits, but the resin cockpit is completely encased so you can't paint the interior - always prevented me from building one of these beauties. How much are the resin kits worth nowadays?

To the people who use Flory washes - I love it after discovering it. Now however a few years later, I find some of them really thick, what do you use to thin them down again - is it just water? They seem to bead up more than flow. Also even after a lot of shaking, I find a lot of the pigments seem to be clumping and not mixing finely enough (or at least you can see the "grit") - at least not like it was when it was new a few years ago (it was smooth like watery paint when new). Is there a proper way of "refreshing it"?

@arbit I just use future straight from the bottle. I airbrush it at low pressure 12-15psi and fairly close to it goes on wet and allows itself to "self-level". If you spray it too far or to high of a pressure it often "pebbles" and creates a rougher texture which I have done, just make sure its evenly coated to protect the matte paint below. I love the easy clean up of Tamiya, however I am liking these Mr. Color paints for real world aircraft as they are pre-mixed to the right shade of grey. Even with my careful matching I have noticed that each batch of Mr. Color or Tamiya could be a hair/shade off. So even with my careful matching, the Hasegawa data stencilng grey "NO STEPS" are almost disappearing into the top grey. I don't know if my paint is a shade too light or the decals a shade too dark, but needless to say lots of tiny "NO STEPS" and "NO PUSH" after 5 hrs of decalling almost disappears. I have now resprayed a future gloss coat over just the decals to seal in the carrier film edge (I trim as close to the printed edge as possible) and blend it in. I will spray it flat over the entire thing to even it out afterwards and start to dirty it up with a little post-shading and rub down of panels and streaks. @Dobber Welcome back! Great to see your stuff again and love the B-Wing. Almost chose that as my return to the fray, but somehow I opted for the F-18F and I'm regretting it now... Should have started with something a little more straightforward.

Starting to look a little more like an airplane finally!!! I love this part, decals are my favourite. Its looking like it rolled out of the factory at the moment all shiny and new. Those yellow rudder tips are a bitch to get around all those bumps and flarings - thank goodness I decided to paint the rudders black and only have to deal with the yellow tips, they included the entire black rudder as a whole decal piece (I can just imagine the nightmare). @derex3592 You are making it really hard to resist that set of Enterprises! Looking great so far.

@derex3592 I was planning on the VFA-103 skull and crossbones squadron to go with all my other F-14s eventually and to sit next to my Macross planes. I did think of the new Top Gun movie and that did partially influence my decision to start the F-18 finally. What markings do Maverick's plane have in the movie?

@arbit The colour matching is recent, after my F-16 where I was a shade off on my greys, the decals I used almost disappeared into the paint. I vowed never again especially with all these tactical greys schemes. The trouble is I love using Tamiya paints for their ease of cleanup, but they don't have FS color equivalents and I always have to mix them. I'm starting to use Mr. Color paints which are matched to FS colors, but they are lacquers and the clean up sucks. I've finally finished the topside and unmasked the cockpit. I'm going to use the canopies as masks to protect the cockpit, but I thought I should finish up the HUD before I put the windscreen in place. I thought I'd actually try to put the double plate of glass this time as I usually cheap out and only put the single plate. I think it worked out well. I have since fixed the slightly rough edge between the black of the canopy sill and fuselage - this has always been a problem for me. It doesn't look so ragged in real life, unless I take a magnifying glass to it. I forgot what a pain it is to remove that center seam on the canopy, sand, repolish back and coat with future. Its now awaiting some proper drying time and finishing the canopy to seal in the cockpit to clear coat the entire bird in future to await decals. Its so new... its going to be hard to dirty it up a little. Most of my references for this plane isn't that dirty, its not like the old Hornets or F-14s that were just abused and neglected. @Focslain When I discovered Tamiya yellow masking tape, it opened wonders for me. Its specially made to not pull up Tamiya acrylic paint which is one of the most delicate of surfaces. I'd highly recommend it - though its not cheap. Additionally, whenever I do use masking tape, I always stick it to my jeans a few times to get rid of the initial stickiness first before sticking it to my painted surfaces. I'd also suggest thinning your paints a bit before brushing them on to allow them to "self-level" before drying to hide the brush marks.

Yay! Finally a little progress after so much cutting, putty and sanding to correct the fit. Nice to have the Federal Standards chip book to mix paint colours. I usually go a shade lighter for scale and allows for post shading - however my FS 36375 sample seems to have this weird purplish tint that I didn't reproduce, I made it towards the blue side of things as FS 36320 has a strong blue hue to it that I didn't want it to clash. I think I'll try that black decal idea for the canopy interior - thanks.

Lucky you @Nerd-linger Same situation here, got shipping notice 24th, then "Arrival at outward office of exchange" on 25th where it's sitting, and nothing. What's worse is I have another package from the 17th stuck at "Posting/Collection" with no movement at all - argh! I just hope they don't lose it among the avalanche - maybe the bright side is with all these packages, they don't have enough man-power to screen for customs & duty?!

Thanks! I have 3-4 Hasegawas (but I think they might be on the back burner after my experience with the F-18F) and I have 2 FineMolds (one boxed and one part of that original magazine subscription). I'd like to try this GWH, so is this the best 1/72 F-14 (regardless of price) or is the FM still better than this one? How about the Academy? I don't mind paying for a well detailed/engineered kit.

Wow!!! @joscasle simply wonderful. Perfect amount of weathering. So inspirational. I wished Tamiya scaled down that beauty into 1/72 scale. Might have to bite the bullet someday and get that kit. You've really brought all the details out! Thanks for sharing.

I'm shocked as well, my SSP from NY were just shipped out EMS. They were picked up too right away and arrived at the outward exchange office. I'm in Canada and I think its still ok. However I ordered YF-19 DX from Mandarake which was posted to EMS on the 17th and it hasn't even been picked up yet - argh! How much of a delay is EMS in Japan nowadays?

@electric indigo Hey do you mask the inside of the canopy as well or do you just let the outside color show through inside frames? (my laziness might be showing through :P) Usually the inside of the canopy frames are black and the outside is the camo colour right? Luckily a lot of US aircraft is black on the inside and black on the outside.

OMG! Starting to finally look like a plane... I love painting and decaling, but I hate the prep work beforehand - however without the prep, the painting would suck.